


Getting to Say Goodbye

by Psychiccupid



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, Gen, Ghosts, Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), New Dangan Ronpa V3 Spoilers, Post-New Dangan Ronpa V3, Souls, Takes place right at the end of V3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26485990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psychiccupid/pseuds/Psychiccupid
Summary: As the finale of Danganronpa V3 is underway, the survivors get to say their goodbyes to the dead.And that's about as much as I can say without spoiling anything.Please enjoy this one-off, self-indulgent, emotional piece of things I wish characters had gotten to say.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Oma Kokichi, Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi, Chabashira Tenko/Yonaga Angie/Yumeno Himiko, Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, It's just very centered around certain people for certain characters, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, This is not a ship fic but these ships are included:, You can enjoy this even if you dislike the ship
Comments: 5
Kudos: 83
Collections: Quality Fics





	Getting to Say Goodbye

Kaede gently tiptoed around the small obstacles that lined her path as she made her way to the hangar. The door had been broken at some point, and she easily slipped past it into the large sci-fi corridor. Her hands brushed against the wall as she kept walking, making a whispering, almost musical noise that only her ears could hear, but stopped once she got to the big, open electrical door. 

Inside she saw four Exisals that looked like they were dinged up, a bathroom door that was wide open, and, most importantly, a hydraulic press that was completely shut, never to be turned on again. 

It didn’t take long for her to spot the purple figure sitting right beside the damaged sleeve that stuck out of the closed machine. His knees were up towards his chest, his arms resting on them, and his head was buried. 

Kokichi wasn’t crying, no. That would be too out of character for him right now. No matter how hard he wanted to, no matter how much he wanted to scream and throw a fit, he couldn’t cry, not real tears. 

When Kaede made her way over and sat next to him, he lifted his head up. If he had been surprised by her quiet entrance, he said nothing about it. 

They made eye contact. Pink and purple eyes that once sparkled with life, determination, _hope_ , now dulled over and almost grayed. It took mere seconds for that eye contact to end as he turned away from her and stared at the ground instead. 

“Do you want to watch them leave?” Kaede murmured. There was sympathy in her voice, almost like a soothing melody, but also pain. Unlike Kokichi, she could cry and despite her best efforts she could feel her emotions rising.

He lifted his head once again to look at her and when he saw the expression she was making he flashed a soft smile and nodded. Slowly, he stood up clumsily, not used to his legs, and she held his hand to stable him. That’s what she told herself anyway, but they both knew she needed the emotional support just as much as he did. 

They walked, hand in hand, towards the courtyard. Each step was brisk but methodical, making sure that neither of them tripped or got left behind. 

Once they were right outside of the dorm rooms they once resided in, Kokichi looked up, released Kaede’s hand to tug on her sleeve, and pointed right at the sky. It took her a moment to notice Keebo flying, but it was all to soon before his attacks started firing. 

Neither of them acted with fear or anxiety. They remained rather emotionless as they watched the school get destroyed. Suddenly, they noticed a woman standing at the entrance, holding the hand of the dreaded monochrome bear. 

She was waving at three people with a warm smile upon her face, but it seemed as though she were looking through them, at someone even more important. However, neither Kokichi nor Kaede noticed anyone else around. Both had believed that upon seeing her they would be livid, furious, even hurt. Still, they felt nothing.

And that was the last they saw of her as Keebo shot another laser, releasing a boulder that crushed Tsumugi, their previous friend and classmate, to death. 

Then, the robot flew. He flew into the dome that surrounded the school that had once kept sixteen students trapped inside. He exploded beautifully, sacrificing himself for the sake of the people he loved, and gave them a way to escape. 

Once the wind had calmed down and the courtyard had been completely destroyed, the same three people that had been waved at earlier emerged from a pile of rubble. They had some scratches and maybe some bruises, but ultimately, they were unscathed.

It took a few minutes for them to regain their composure and understand the situation, but once they did, they looked to the newfound hole in the sky. 

Kaede turned to her side, ready to suggest they go say goodbye, but Kokichi was already gone. He was sprinting as fast as he could, not caring if he tripped along the way. 

He crashed into the back of the blue-haired survivor, wrapping his arms tightly around the other man’s lower chest. It was the first time Kokichi had smiled in days as he started to cry into the soft striped outfit. The mastermind was dead, his character didn’t matter, he could cry all he wanted. 

The man being hugged jumped. He couldn’t quite tell what he was feeling, but he knew it was an embrace of some sort. He wrapped his own arms around the ones gripping him and could’ve sworn that he even felt a little warmth that wasn’t there before.

Even though he knew what he’d find, he still looked down.

And saw nothing there.

Just his own hands constricting himself, but he felt it, he was still feeling it. 

He was a detective, a damn good one, and he knew, he knew, _he knew_.

The height, the crashing feeling, this warmth. He knew.

“Kokichi…” He said out loud, his voice choking back a sob of his own. He felt something nuzzle him softly right below the back of his neck and tears started to flow from his golden eyes.

He didn’t care that this brought on the attention of the other two people around him. Shuichi was crying, furiously gripping where he felt the hands around his shirt, “Kokichi, I did it! I-I stopped the game! I-“ 

Then, he heard the two women near him shuffle. Both, just like him, had held themselves, but there was no one around them.

Himiko was silently sobbing; her tears endlessly falling to the ground. She had both of her hands on her shoulders gripping them tightly and he heard her say, “I don’t want to let either of you go. Not again!”

On the other side was Maki. If this had happened during their school life, maybe she would’ve been more composed, but right now her face was as red as her tear-soaked shirt. Both of her hands were tightly latched onto one of her cheeks, and she looked in front of her with wide, sad eyes at no one. 

Suddenly, Shuichi felt two incredibly soft hands touch his face. He released one of his own hands to touch his right cheek, holding the warmth he felt there tenderly. He kept his other hand glued to the arms he still felt holding him. 

All he saw in front of him was the cracked shield, but he would never forget these hands he had held once before. His sobs became harder. It had been so long.

“Kaede!? I… I-I missed you.” He was barely audible between his frantic breathing, “You never k-killed anyone, Kaede. W-Were you watching? You… d-didn’t deserve this. You...” 

He was completely uncomposed, bumbling, “Both of you. Both of you tried so hard. A-And I couldn’t save… I couldn’t save either of you…”

Suddenly he felt the lightest press of lips to his forehead then release, despite the scenery before him remaining unchanged. 

“B-Because of you, Kaede, we were able to win! You found the mastermind! W-We… We were able to stop Team Danganronpa! You saved us! You saved me!” He was practically yelling. Himiko and Maki were screaming their own words to what seemed to be themselves. 

He choked up and he cried his hardest as he realized he wanted to say more, “And Kokichi… K-Kokichi… you’re not alone! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m right here… I… I want to play more games… I want you to lie to me… I should’ve… I s-should’ve known you weren’t…” 

He couldn’t talk anymore through the sobs.

The hands on his face quickly became arms wrapped around his shoulders. He started to calm down when his body, front and back, felt embraced by warm, undeniably sad hugs, but didn’t go back to talking. 

Then he felt a hand ruffle his hair, but he wasn’t confused. With his left hand he reached up and grabbed where he felt it, and started his broken voice again, “And you, Kaito, you believed in all of us. You always pushed us forward. You b-brought us all together. We’re here because of you.”

Maki started to make her way over, and physically grabbed Shuichi’s right arm and hugged it while dropping her face onto his shoulder, crying into it. He felt his ruffling hair cease, and then experienced a large hug that seemed to embrace both survivors and where Kokichi might’ve been.

Himiko was next as she grabbed Shuichi’s other arm and held it. He felt them, Angie and Tenko, on both sides of her release and extend their hug to the others.

One by one, Shuichi started to notice them all.

Miu, next to Kaede.

Keebo, only recently gone, next to that.

Ryoma, at one of his legs.

Kirumi, next to Maki.

Korekiyo, arms outstretched behind Himiko’s trio as an apology.

Gonta, behind Kokichi, arms wide enough to hold everyone.

And Rantaro, on Kaede’s other side.

Fifteen students embracing in their final goodbyes of the killing game.

Finally, Shuichi croaked, “Tsu… Tsumugi you too. Even if it was pretend-“

He didn’t get to finish. She was there. Not in the hug, but there. She didn’t seem to have remorse or sorrow, but she was there, saying goodbye. 

There was warmth, and tears, and emotions. They stayed like that for fifteen minutes, not wanting to let go. 

But they had to. 

The three survivors opened their eyes, and the warmth started to fade.

No one was there.

When they finally separated, they all turned around to look behind them, away from the exit. It was just a bunch of rocks and debris scattered everywhere.

But they knew. 

Thirteen people were standing there, watching, waving, crying. 

Right in the middle was Kaede, smiling with a fountain of tears running down her face, holding two people’s hands very tightly.

On her right, Kaito, crying with a large grin, giving a thumbs up to his exceptional sidekicks.

On her left, Kokichi, his tears never ending after finally being allowed to sob, one finger over his mouth, jokingly and poorly recreating his signature sly grin. 

Shuichi looked at them, looked at all of them. Friends, enemies, lovers, victims, murderers, masterminds, antagonists, and protagonists. They were all radiant. They were ethereal. They were everything to him.

And then,

They were gone.

“Goodbye,” Shuichi said, blowing a kiss to the sky. The two women next to him followed suit.

The three survivors turned back around to reface the exit, and then, hand in hand, they all took a step forward.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you cry? I did. A lot. ~~I'm also an emotional bitch who loves V3 like waaaayyy too much~~
> 
> I'm leaving it up to the reader to determine if the ghosts of students past are real or not. I'm leaving it up to the reader to determine if our three survivors actually felt them or if it was all in their head.
> 
> I truly hope you enjoyed this as much as I did making it.
> 
> I'll confess that I woke up this morning at 5 a.m. after a nightmare and this plot came to me and I had to write it immediately. I've never felt a surge of creation that strong but here it is!
> 
> All comments, critiques and praises are welcome!


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